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Are you starting a new project that includes drywall installation and taping? Here we’ve got 10 tips to share with you. Drywall is typically the phase when the rubber meets the road. If items like framing, HVAC and plumbing weren’t thoroughly planned and installed, the drywall phase is when a lack of adequate execution or a miscalculation becomes obvious. Drywall is one of the hardest trades to master; it takes a steady hand and a well-experienced eye. Here’s our top 10 things to know about drywall before you start. Share this advice with your friends on twitter and facebook.

1. 5/8” or 1/2” Drywall?

5/8” GWB (Gypsum Wallboard) is always a better move than ½” GWB for thickness- it’s stiffer and hides framing imperfections. Nothing makes up for a day or two of extra work with long levels flattening walls and ceilings and checking for other framing problems that will become evident only at the end of the project when all the interior lighting is in place. Also 5/8” GWB may be necessary for fire rated walls.

2. Reflective Lighting

Reflective light (i.e. off adjacent bodies of water, like pools or ponds) can create visually unpleasant washes of light that show every imperfection. In this case it is best to go full mud-coating and sand over complete surfaces that will get reflected light.

3. Watch for Dust

When you’re sanding compound off of drywall, the dust will flow everywhere. Before sanding drywall seal off any vents and turn off the air conditioning so it doesn’t draw into the systems. When you’re ready to sand drywall, there’s a good chance that there will be dust. If we are talking about only one isolated room in a house, put a plastic drop cloth at the doorway. If you don’t want any dust, you can use sponges. The sponges will have to dry, though.

4. Cabinets and Drywall

Double-check wall and ceiling flatness during taping wherever cabinets meet drywall. Once cabinets are installed, an uneven wall or ceiling becomes all the more evident (even with scribes).

5. Doors and Drywall

The devil is in the details. We strongly believe, anything that can reduce the visual signs of a wall assembly, is better. This requires that the interior doors be installed prior to drywall, and we’ve learned, they need to be secured well so they don’t shift (or get shifted) during drywall hanging.

6. Minimize Seams in Drywall

Start by hanging the drywall sheets vertically. If, lets say, the height of the ceiling is 10 feet, and you use the 8-feet drywall; there’s still a 2-foot section missing, so you add a 2-foot piece on top. On the next wall adjacent, put the 2-foot piece on the bottom and then the 8-foot piece of drywall on top, so that there is no one line going horizontally around the room; you want it to be staggered.

7. Consider Layers of Drywall

Thicker drywall offers a better measure of sound abatement and will also give you a much more rigid wall. Two layers of drywall will help to hide any sort of imperfections you may have and give a more rigid surface for finishing.

8. Keep Drywall Dry with Vapor Barrier

A good thing to have on your exterior wall is vapor barrier. The moisture can cause mold and the vapor barrier will keep it from penetrating the back of the drywall. If you don’t do the vapor barrier and you have a large exterior wall, you can get a mildew buildup behind the drywall, and then sometimes you’ll get that little browning or blacking effect in the areas.

9. Take Pictures of Drywall

Get a camera and start taking picture of the drywall installation process. In the future it will help you to identify several helpful things things, such as electrical wiring and plumbing pipes. Having this information to look back at is very valuable.

10. Drywall is white

So don’t wear black to site visits.

Planning a renovation or a new drywall installation project in Toronto? Give us a call 416-639-9972

Continuing our topic of soundproofing started with this post here, we would like now to talk about the project we finished a couple of weeks ago.

We were renovating a townhouse built back in the 70’s for new owners. What we faced there was something quite common for Toronto old houses built using plaster. As we know although being a great material with pretty good sound and thermal insulating properties, it tends to age with unsightly cracks and crumbles. And once it starts to crack the problem becomes literally interminable – door slammed, heavy truck passed by – all results in more cracks. Thus repairing and patching these walls makes no sense and removing the existing plaster and replacing it with new is a very pricey option accompanied by the difficulty of finding a right contractor willing to do the job. Having said that, what are the options that house owners not willing to compromise on sound insulation have when deciding to embark on the renovating project?

You can definitely build a layer of drywall over the plaster. This way you keep the benefits of the plaster and get nice smooth walls. It’s a good option if you have some extra space you can sacrifice by loosing couple of inches to drywall. Also building drywall over plaster changes the relief between the wall and the window and door trim, and skirting boards. This will result in an unattractive change in proportion.

Another difficulty is when you have a stairwell adjacent to your neighbors’ wall. In this case you cannot afford to lose any of the stairwell’s width to an extra layer of drywall as you cannot make your stairs narrower than 36″ required by the construction code. Simple and logical replacement of the old plaster with regular drywall is not a solution either as in this case you will be losing all of the so much needed sound proofing.

That was exactly the case we had with our recent project when we were required to remove the old plaster from the stairwell wall and build the wall with excellent sound insulating properties instead as the owners were concerned about the noise coming from 4 guys in their 20’s living next door. Therefore they asked us for the maximum noise reduction. What did we do?

QuietRock and Green Glue

For this project we decided to go the tried and tested route – remove the plaster and then install one layer of QuietRock. QuietRock is a sound damped panel that offers outstanding sound proofing and sound reduction performance. We have used this product in a number of projects and got very encouraging results. We especially recommend it in the instances when the space and time are very sensitive factors.

We used QuietRock ES type X – an easy to install 5/8″ panel with acoustic rating of up to STC 55 and one hour fire rating – it ideally fitted our requirements.

Significant sound reduction cannot be achieved by using only one product, it is always a combination of methods that provides positive results. Therefore we decided to back up the QuietRock with Green Glue – high performance damping compound.

Normally we would also suggest decoupling the wall to stop the noise from traveling but this time it was impossible to do because our owners’ and neighbours’ staircases shared the same wall. To compensate for that we used two layers of Green Glue (2 tubes per 4’x8′ sheet) instead of regular one layer.

This approach allowed us to keep the staircase space and save on labour and time. The result we got in the end was not only comparable to the sound reducing capabilities of the plaster but even excedeed it.

If you are in the process of building, remodeling or renovating your house and consider increasing its value by something the price tag cannot put on – Quiet – contact us today for a quote and sound proofing solutions.

Soundproofing your home, basement or Condo can be a great investment which can increase an overall comfort of your home as well as the market value of your house if you consider selling it in the future.

What are the situations when you might consider sound insulating your home?

You live in a townhouse and are constantly being disturbed by the noise your neighbors are making.

You hear all the sounds your neighbours produce and feel that your sweet home doesn’t provide you with the privacy and serenity you were hoping for when signing a mortgage agreement.

You are building a media room in your basement and don’t want the entire household shake in fear when you are relaxing to the sounds of your favorite heavy-metal band.

Your kid has decided to become a world famous drummer and is practicing day and night driving all the living creatures in the 10 mile radius crazy.

You are such a light sleeper whose sleep is easily perturbed by any noise and you want to shield your bedroom from the rest of your house.

You wish to insulate your laundry room as it is located to close to the common areas of your house.

Any of these and much more gives you sufficient ground to consider soundproofing your house.

In this post we will talk about the method of noise control our company has been using and recommends to clients willing to take their house to a new comfort level.

How to effectively soundproof your room?

There are different ways to sound insulate your house with the choice depending on your needs, situation and results you are willing to achieve. In this post we will cover the method that we consider the most effective to provide the best insulation at the most reasonable investment.

The best noise control and maximized performance is achieved by using the combination of 5/8″ drywall sheets, QuietRock soundproofing panels and Green Glue.

First off, why 5/8″ drywall?

That’s because it’s a product with better fire rating than regular drywall, it’s stronger and has more mass which is an important factor in noise reduction.

Why QuietRock panels?

QuietRock is a soundproofing panel of choice of DrywallTaping.ca. We have installed it in a number of households and have been happy with the results. To sound proof your room you may either use layers of drywall or opt for a sound-damping product like QuietRock ES or QuietRock 535. QuietRock offers outstanding acoustic performance exceeding STC code requirements with only one layer of the product. Which in turn saves your valuable space you otherwise would be sacrifying by installing layers of drywall. By the way, to achieve the same result with regular drywall you would need 8 layers of it.

Another advantage of QuietRock is its EZ-SNAP technology which allows the panels to be scored and snapped (or cut) in the same way as the ordinary drywall. QuietRock is the most effective solution on the market for low frequencies therefore your best bet for insulation home media centers.

Why Green Glue?

Green Glue is a damping compound with performance that is higher than any product of its type. It can be used in any drywall assembly to damp the sound in order to prevent the vibration from travelling through the building framing. It works very effectively in combination with either QuietRock or 5/8″ drywall.

Things to remember when soundproofing your house

The most important thing to remember when sound proofing your room is that the performance will be defined by the weakest link therefore make sure to seal all the gaps, power outlets etc. To do that we use QuietPutty, an easy to use acoustical putty for use around junction boxes.

Another thing to remember that there are different solutions for soundproofing, it all depends on your needs and house peculiarities. Call us today to schedule an appointment to discuss your situation and figure out a sound insulating method which will work the best for you.

Pricing for Drywall Installation Taping Mudding and sending include materials in GTA is pretty standard and varies only by cents.

Quotes for boarding and taping can differ from case to case. Here is what the quote will look like for a standard house like below:

The total square footage of this sample house equals 4360 Sq.Ft. That’s the main parameter used in calculating the cost of drywall boarding and taping.

How to calculate approximate cost of drywall boarding and taping?

The prices are calculated by taking the total floor area of 4360 Sq.Ft. and multiplying it by 4 to get the approximate total boarding area.

If a custom trim like D200, D300, D400, D4411 Channel Trim or D800 is requested then each project is priced individually and the total will depend on the amount of the custom trim used and the time required to install it.